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Serial Saturday-Flicker Part 9

Ok, guys, I rushed on Friday morning and finished 1,700 words in forty nine minutes. It's really good, or at least I think it is, :D, just don't think that I didn't pour everything into it. I did, just at a faster rate. Anywho, here you go. Oh, and I made a mock cover for Flicker!

Chapter 9

Seth leaned against
a tree and pressed his hands against his head. Go after them. He ignored the voice. What he needed was for them to
fear him. And for that, he needed something they cared about, or someone. Rowen
and Rogen would come for Ezra, Asha would come for her brother, and Sale…Sale
was his problem. He would attack Seth even if he had their mother, he didn’t
care about anyone anymore.

He pulled his sword
out and started walking back to the palace.
Ezra first, then Asha. He needed to get them first, and then he needed
to lie in waiting. Fear wasn’t created
in an instant, it was grown over time. Shorter amounts of time than others,
yes, but time still.

Seth walked into
the blacksmith and Ezra looked up. “What do you want?” he demanded.

Seth pulled a knife
from its sheath. “I need…a bit of leverage.” He said. Ezra lay his hand on a
sword nearby, but he dropped it and crossed his arms. “What kind of leverage?”
he demanded.

“Let’s just say I
need your former fiancé and her brother, friend, and my brother.” Seth said.
“So…in order for that to happen, I need someone she cares about.”

Ezra shook his
head. “I’m not helping you, and we’re still engaged, she hadn’t broken it off
yet, neither have I.” he snapped. Seth shrugged.

“Get a clue.” He
snapped. “She’s gone, and you’re going to help me. I can take you willingly, or
I can kidnap you, either one.”

Ezra slammed his
fist into the wall. “No.” he ground out. “You’ll have to kidnap me. If I go
willingly, I will never be able to look Rowen in the eyes again.”
Seth shrugged and removed a rope from
his pack. “Your choice.”

Seth walked into
the palace and went directly to the group of children gathered in a circle. He
needed to appear kind, at first, and then if he had to, he would scare them.
How to appear nice when he looked the way he did, that was a problem.

He crouched down by
them and almost grinned when everyone looked up. “Hey, I need to know about one
of your friends, Aden?”

They all glanced
around at each other and the oldest, a boy who was around Aden’s age, shook his
head.
“I’m a friend of his sister.” Seth
said. The boy looked up.
“You know where she is?” he asked.
Seth nodded.
“Yes, she’s with bad people, and I
need Aden’s help to get her back.” He said. The boy stared at him.

“I’m thirteen, I’m
not six.” He said. “Aden went with Taysin somewhere, that’s all we know.”
“Who’s Taysin?” Seth asked.
“He works here, really works here. He
gets paid and everything.” The boy said. Seth stood. He knew exactly which man
the kid was talking about.
“Thank you.” He said. “Now I can get
both of them back for you.”

He walked up to the
woman who supervised the servants and glanced around. “Where does Taysin live?”
he asked. The woman shrugged.

“How am I supposed
to know?” she demanded. “He doesn’t live here, ask one of his friends.”

Seth’s hand strayed
to his sword, but he dropped it and glanced around. “Hey, who knows where
Taysin lives?” he yelled. Everyone stopped what they were doing, but only two
came up to him, the others ducked their head and hurried with their work.
“Um, he lives…got through the market
and then find the big hill, he lives just on the other side of that, there are
some woods that you can go through, but over the hill is faster.” One said.
Seth raised his eyebrows.

“So where I was
just now.” He muttered. “Totally perfect.”

He stormed to the
dungeon and practically stuffed Ezra in a bag. The man never said a word, he
was probably saying goodbye to…whoever. There was a very great chance that he
wouldn’t make it out of this alive.

The trip through
the woods was…long. Very long. He practically stumbled through, but he didn’t
want to try to carry a person in a bag over a hill. When he reached the field
before the house, he glanced back and saw a hill. Wonderful, he was at the
right house.

Using the woods
surround the other side of the house, he watched the group which still sat
outside. Aden must be the redhead kid. He practiced with real knives, he must
be good.

“You have got to be
kidding me.” He groaned. “I’m going to die, I can’t stop it this time.” He knew
he couldn’t take on Rogen, Rowen, or Aden all at once, and they had Sale with
them. The only thing to do was get Rowen on his side, and he needed to wait
until midnight to do that.

At closer to
midnight, he snuck up to Rowen’s room; she was sharing it with another girl and
Asha. Tapping on the glass, he slipped the note underneath Rowen’s open window
and hurried back to his spot where he watched her. She opened the note and
glanced around with a frown. Her eyes traveled down the page and she dropped
the note, covering her face with her hands. Running her hands through her hair,
she pulled a shirt out from the dresser and Seth turned away.

She was coming, and
she hadn’t screamed, she hadn’t called for her brother, she hadn’t even told Asha.
She was just coming. Just her, and then he would threaten her using Ezra until
he gained her temporary loyalty.

“Who are you?” a
voice asked. Seth didn’t whirl around like most people would, he looked around
with a bored expression. Aden.

“The Nightmare.” He
answered. Aden gripped his knives even tighter.

“You’re here for
Rowen and Asha, aren’t you?” he asked.
“Add Rogen.” Seth added. “But yes,
Rowen and Rogen are…wanted for questioning. And Asha just needs to come back.” He
said. “She disappeared and I came to find her.”

“I can’t let you take her.” Aden seethed, his
arms flexing as he gripped the knives. If he held them any tighter, he would
start scaring Seth. Nobody gripped them that hard.

“You can’t do
anything about it.” Seth said. Aden attacked him.

One knife went for
his neck, and Seth brought both of his knives up to block it. He felt a prick
at his stomach and looked down. That sneaky little-

“Why don’t I just
cut you?” Aden snapped.
“Right. Look, I just want to neutralize
the rebel threat, then I can take off from the palace, it’s not that
complicated, I just want to leave.”

Aden glanced behind
him. “Sale, grab Ezra.” He said. Sale walked out from the woods and removed the
top of the bag with his sword. Ezra was unconscious, who knew why, but Rowen
ran up and covered her mouth again.
“Ezra!” she cried, skidding to her
knees. She felt his pulse and closed her eyes, starting to shake. “He’s still
alive.” She shuddered.

“For now.” Ezra
said, opening his eyes and pressing a knife to Rowen’s throat. Aden’s knife
pulled away the slightest bit and Seth slammed his fist into the boy’s head. He
didn’t go down, but he stumbled backwards a few steps and gasped.
“Sale, drop all of your weapons on the
ground.” He ordered. Sale stabbed the sword into the ground and pulled his
knives out, dropping it on the ground.
“I will kill you.” He seethed. Seth
snorted.
“Sure.” He nodded. “Uh huh.” Glancing
at the still stumbling Aden, he nodded to his knives. “Drop them.”
Aden dropped both knives and Seth drew
his swords. “Both of you, get on your knees and put your hands on your heads.

Rowen had stopped
shaking a long time ago, now she looked like she would kill both of them. Seth
wondered where Ezra had gotten the knife. He also wondered what had made him
against Rowen instead of for her.

Rowen dropped to
her knees and slid her hands on her head. Sale dropped to his knees as well,
but his hands didn’t slide on his head, he set them there, glancing at Seth.

Some people might have
kicked their rival brother while they could, but Seth actually had a shred of dignity,
and that wouldn’t be the same as winning a real fight. Not even close.

“What are you going
to do now?” Sale demanded. Seth looked over.

“Well, now I take
all of you to the palace.” He said. “Um, Ezra, you go get Rogen from the house,
and get Asha too, red head.”

Ezra rose and Seth
lay one of his swords on Rowen’s neck, the other on Sale’s neck. “So I guess the
wedding’s off?” he asked. Rowen rose up slightly, but the sword stopped her.

“You mention the
wedding or anything related to Ezra and I, I swear I will-” she spit, but Seth
stopped her.

“Rowen, don’t make
threats that you can’t keep.” He said. Rowen glanced at Aden and she dropped,
slamming her foot into his leg. Aden’s foot hit his other leg at the same time
and he fell.
Rowen pressed her sword to his throat
and her eyes flamed. “Can’t keep them huh?” she demanded. “What’s wrong Seth? Did you not get a good night’s
sleep?

“Try four.” He grunted.
Rowen laughed, but it wasn’t happy.
“You are the funniest!” she grinned
sarcastically. “Give me one good reason, no, give me one reason why I shouldn’t
kill you now?”

Seth looked around.
“Uh, if you do, then Ezra will slit Aden’s open.”
Rowen didn’t look back. “Aden?” she
called. Aden walked around in front of her and glanced down at Seth. “You’re
the worst liar ever.” She commented.

“No, you’re just
smart.” He said. Rowen shrugged.

“Who knows.” She asked.
“It could be both.”

“Tell me before I
die, who taught you to swordfight?” he asked. Rowen shook her head.
“I’ll tell that to my brother before I
die.” She snapped. “Wait, how did you know that I kept that a secret?” she
demanded. He laughed.
“I have my ways Rowen.” He said.
“Rowen!” Rogen called. Rowen lifted
her sword the same length that Aden had and Seth took the opportunity. He
slammed his head into Rowen’s and she jerked off. Rogen shouted her name again,
but Seth already had her in an arm lock.

“If either one of
you move, I will kill her.” He threatened. “And if you don’t surrender completely,
I will kill her. You have about a minute and a half before she dies.”

Rogen hesitated and
looked at Rowen. “Rogen, don’t do it.” She managed. “You’ll all die if you do!”

Rogen looked back
at the house and grabbed Ezra. He threw him to the side and Ezra hit his head
on a tree. Seth tightened his grip as he watched Rogen gather all of the loose
weapons and run. Sale followed them and Aden ran to the house to get his sister
out.

“Before you die,
tell me who trained you.” He suggested. Rowen shook her head and he tightened his
grip even more. “Ten seconds isn’t enough anyways, oh well.”
He finished counting, and three
seconds later, she collapsed in his arms. He felt her pulse just in case, but
it wasn’t there. Just to be sure though, he tied her wrists behind her back
before he gathered his fallen knives and went after the group. He didn’t
consider killing Rowen a waste of time really, he was glad he did it. If he was
in the middle of a fight, he would still have done it. It had been worth it.